In the Background
by angelthree117
Summary: It was always Fred. In the background and on the sidelines, cheering her up and silently helping her onwards and upwards. F/H-light ship- May add epilogue later.


A/N~ Okay, so this is a little bit AU, obviously, because F/H isn't canon. I make it a little bit more AU because I needed a few details to change to fit the story better. Hope you like it! Most of it was read by my sister, who also helped with some of the minor details.

Summary- It was always Fred. In the background and on the sidelines, cheering her up and silently helping her onwards and upwards.

In the Background

*Argh! Ronald Weasley will be the death of me!* Hermione thought as she stormed into her shared room at the Burrow. Thankfully Ginny was still outside with the prat, along with the rest of the redheaded clan, as well as Harry. Perhaps one of them would knock some sense into that boy. *Boy indeed. How immature! How dare he simply ASSUME that we would be together this year?! I have certainly grown out of THAT crush!* she thought. With a huff, she dug into her trunk, determined to finish packing everything that Harry, Ron, and her would need while they hunted Horcruxes. Instead of the slightly battered paper jackets of the textbooks that she had been planning on taking with her as reference for spells and potions and herbs on the run, her searching fingers came across worn, soft leather. With a sigh, Hermione pulled the book out.

Across the front, in red and gold, were the words "Memories" and her name in smaller font by the corner. It was a scrapbook Hermione's mother had gifted her after Hermione's first year at Hogwarts, when the young witch had come home with a handful of copies of photos taken over the year. That fall, her birthday present had been a new wizard's camera, so that she could take pictures of her own to fill the book with.

Over the years, Hermione had filled the scrapbook with pictures taken by her own camera, those taken by other students around school, newspaper clippings, small chunks of her assignments, and even bits and pieces that she had found on adventures.

Now about to embark on an adventure bigger and more dangerous than any she and her friends had ever attempted before, Hermione opened the book to the first pages, needing a reminder of simpler, easier days.

The very first picture was taken at Harry's first Quidditch game, and captured the look of shock and joy when he caught the snitch that first time. All these years later, Hermione knew that nothing could clear her friend's head like an open pitch and a snitch on the loose. In the background she saw several team members cheering. On the next page was a picture of the Weasley boys, Harry, and Hermione gathered at Christmas, each one wearing their new sweaters from Mrs. Weasley. Harry sat in the middle, right in front of the tree with a massive grin on his face. Hermione and Ron sat on either side of him, with the twins at the ends. Percy had insisted on taking the picture, claiming to be too old for Christmas photos. Just to tease Mrs. Weasley, the twins had written a note to go with the picture signed Gred and Forge, since they had switched sweaters for the picture, so Hermione knew that though the twin by Ron had an F on his sweater, it was actually George. Likewise, Fred sat by her, with his arm wrapped around her waist, tickling her side. Flipping forward a few pages, Hermione found her favorite picture from that year. All of the Gryffindor's had gathered together for a group shot before heading down to meet the train to go home in the spring. Harry was front and center, with Ron on his left, and Hermione on his right. The twins bookended the threesome, and the rest of the house spread around them. Hermione still remembered the fact that Fred was the one at her side, because just before the photographer snapped the picture, he whispered a nasty comment about the man's toupee in her ear, which had made her giggle for a solid five minute, and meant Fred was looking at her and laughing rather than the camera in the picture.

The next page started her pictures from second year, of which there were considerably fewer, seeing as she was a cat for part of the fall, and petrified for a good portion of the spring, and so lost most of the good picture opportunities. One that someone else had taken and passed on to her was at the end of the year when she was unpetrified. Someone snapped a picture of her standing and smiling with Ron, Harry, and Hagrid. She could see the twins and Ginny in the background grinning at her. Another end of year picture, with the same configuration as the previous, except with Ginny kneeling and grinning in front of Harry, made Hermione smile, thinking of the twins mock fighting over who would get to stand next to her. They had tried to make her believe that George was Fred at first, but much to their amazement, she wasn't fooled, and called the winning twin to his place.

Third year pictures began with a picture someone snapped at the Leakey Cauldron before leaving for school. Everyone had piled into one table for breakfast, the Weasley family, Harry, and Hermione, and were talking and laughing and catching up after the summer apart. One of the passing staff had grabbed Hermione's camera off the table and taken the picture while everyone was distracted. Ron was telling Harry about Egypt. Molly and Arthur were talking to Percy about his upcoming job at the ministry. George and Ginny were discussing Quidditch tactics. And Fred was asking Hermione's opinion on the particular ins and outs of potion ingredients for something he and George wanted to try. Hermione loved the picture, because even though it practically exuded chaos, it also gave her a sense of love and family. Flipping past several other pages, her eyes briefly caught on a clipping of Sirius Black's wanted poster, a part of her report on werewolves, and another end of year picture.

Onto fourth year, which included some of Hermione's favorite pictures ever. A group picture of everyone dressed up in front of the tents at the Quidditch World Cup came first. It was almost sad to think how badly the night would end for the happy and excited faces in the picture. Next a picture of Fred and George in the Great Hall with what they called their "Dumbledore beards" after attempting to place their names in the Goblet of Fire. That picture was taken by Collin Creevy, because Hermione could see herself on the side looking at the twins with a laugh on her face. A picture of all of the Weasley's, Harry, and Hermione at the Yule Ball, taken by the professional photographer was included as well. The line-up had changed slightly over the years. Harry remained in the middle, flanked by Ron on his right and Hermione on his left. Now though, Ginny was between Ron and George, though Fred remained directly next to Hermione. She knew that shortly after the photo was taken, Ron had nearly ruined the night, and his expression in the photo was pouty at best. Hermione's favorite part of the ball had been after most of the kids had gone upstairs and she had sat down and taken her shoes off to cry. Fred had come over to her, picked her up, dragged her over to a corner under the stairs, and danced with her to the music until she had stopped crying, and started laughing at the fact that he had taken his shoes off before pulling her up so that if he stepped on her toes he wouldn't hurt her as badly.

Another year end picture came, this time with all of the students looking much more somber than in previous years due to Cedric Diggory's death, and Harry's report of the return of Voldemort.

Hermione's fifth year pictures almost exclusively featured Dumbledore's Army and the Room of Requirement. Her favorite was partway through the year, when the group was learning the patronus charm. Everyone had lined up to attempt casting the charm, and Hermione, being particularly skilled with charms, had been in the front, along with Harry, Luna, Ginny, George, and Fred. After several tries, both Hermione and Fred, who were standing next to each other, managed to create corporeal patronus, hers in the shape of an otter, and his in the shape of a fox, and the two creatures started playing together while their casters grinned like maniacs at each other, which someone happened to capture on film. Hermione's other favorite picture from that year was taken by Harry, right at the end of the year, the night before they sat for their O.W.L.s. Hermione was cramming like mad in a corner of the common room, with every book spread around her, while everyone else had decided that nothing more could be shoved into their heads, and so were simply relaxing around the room. Fred had come over to her corner, and without warning moved her books aside, and laid out a sheet of paper with detailed potions formulas scratched out in his distinctive handwriting. "I need your help, Hermione." That was all he said when she gave him a glare for disrupting her studying. And so for the next two hours, rather than doing her own, rather redundant, revising, she helped him with a whole assortment of problems he and George had been having with various different tricks and pranks and products. Harry took the picture in the middle of a heated debate over the merits of one ingredient for a firework effect versus another, which caught both of the pictures occupants mid gesture and with grins on their faces, greatly enjoying the discussion. She realized later that it had actually helped her study more than going over her own notes ever could, because it showed a practical application for the things she was studying. What the biggest surprise to her was, the following morning, some of the kinks that she had helped work out in the major firework displays that she had thought were merely for their mail order business, or perhaps a party that summer at the burrow, were displayed as fixed, when the twins came roaring into the Great Hall during their explosive exit from Hogwarts. Fred wrote Hermione a very sweet letter the following day, thanking her for her assistance, and apologizing for interrupting both her studies the night prior to the exams as well as the exams themselves. The letter was still in its envelope, clipped to the page to keep it from falling out. Another end of year picture followed, this time with the very notable loss of the Weasley twins. This year Hermione was flanked by Neville, and though she was very fond of her friend, she missed the boy that had been her companion for the pictures for so many years.

On the next page, a picture of a blushing Hermione receiving a Patented Daydream Charm from Fred at the grand opening of the twins store represented their great leap into the 'real world.' Hermione still had no idea who had taken the picture, but it had been given to her by Ginny the following week with a grin, and a not so subtle query about the subject of Hermione's daydream. Several pictures taken throughout the year featuring many different friends, in Hogwarts as well as Hogsmeade. At Christmas, Ron, Harry, and Hermione had all gone to see the rest of the Weasley's, and as a joke, Hermione had proposed another, somewhat expanded, sweater photo, to compliment all of the others that she had gotten over the years. Hermione, Harry, and Ron sat from left to right on a small sofa. Ginny sat on the floor in front. Fred sat on the left arm of the sofa, while George occupied the right, though they had once again switched sweaters. Molly and Arthur stood behind all of the children, and Remus Lupin took the picture, happy to have avoided one of Molly's sweaters. Once again, Fred and Hermione were not paying attention to their surroundings, as Fred had leaned down to tell her a plot to get back at Ron for being such a prat all year, and Hermione was trying to suppress her laughter long enough to scold him for the nasty things he was planning to do to his brother. Needless to say Ron did end up looking like an oompa loompa the following day, and every time he opened his mouth, pink and blue bubbles came floating out for three days. Hermione did make sure to take a picture of it, and kept a small container of bubbles in her bag tightly sealed to pull out for whenever Ron was being too much of an annoyance. One small stream of bubbles would shut him up faster than you could say 'chocolate' and turn him that wonderful shade of purple he got whenever he was particularly embarrassed or angry. Since the twins had closed the shop from Christmas through New Year's Day, Fred had plenty of time to spend with Hermione and make her truly forget why she was so hung up on Lavender and Ron being together in the first place, and she went back to school in a considerably better frame of mind, ready for whatever else the year threw at her.

Or so she thought…. Because then things started going downhill. They learned more and more about the Horcruxes, and Harry got more and more obsessed with catching Draco out as being bad, then they had to get him to deal with Slughorn, and then finally Dumbledore died.

Now, back at the Burrow, getting ready for the wedding between Bill and Fleur, Hermione knew that the day was drawing near that she and her two best friends would have to leave to hunt for the Horcruxes on their own. She had done as much research as she could think of. She had practiced and practiced the protective wards and miscellaneous charms that they would need to camp safely, and survive in the wild. She had packed and repacked her handbag with the things she thought that they would need the most on their journey. Now it was just a matter of deciding when to go. The wedding was in two days.

"I don't want to go," Hermione cried out softly.

"Then don't." A voice that she would know anywhere came from the door. Hermione turned around.

It was Fred. Of course it was Fred. It was always Fred. In the background and on the sidelines, cheering her up and silently helping her onwards and upwards. Good and reliable Fred. Images flashed through Hermione's mind. In so many of her pictures, that bright head of red hair was there. In second year, Fred and George had asked her how she could always tell them apart, even when their own mother couldn't, and she had joked that a girl had to have some secrets. But she knew that if she had told them, they would laugh at her, because the truth was, even though over the years she had found very subtle differences that helped her tell them apart, in the beginning, it was simply instinct. She always just knew that Fred was Fred, and George was George, because Fred made her feel just a little bit warmer just by being nearby, and George never did.

"Fred…" she sighed. "I have to. You know I do. You've helped me prepare for it. You've given me supplies, and taught me charms. You know more than anyone, Harry and Ron cannot do this without me."

Fred walked towards her, where she was still seated on the ground by her bed, holding her scrapbook on her lap. "I know. I know I know, but I still had to ask. I just don't want you to get hurt Hermione. Look at George. Look at everyone that's been hurt already in this. And they're not nearly as close to Harry as you are! You're my FRIEND Hermione! You can't expect me to just sit back and let you go out there to possibly get killed without saying something." With a huff, he flopped to the floor by her side. He looked up through his long hair into her eyes, and saw brimming tears. "Aw, don't cry, Hermione! Please don't cry! We'll all be just fine! I promise! You and Harry and my idiot little brother will go out there and find those Horcruxes with no problem, and you'll be safe, and you'll be home by Christmas. Okay?" he asked? Hermione blinked rapidly, and brushed away the few tears that had escaped.

"You know, that's been said before. Just before a muggle war back in the first part of the century. World War One. It lasted for years." Fred snorted.

"Okay, never mind. But you guys will be okay. I'm sure of it. Now, for why I came up here. I have a present for you. I know that bag of yours must be getting pretty full, but I have one more thing to put in there." Finally, Hermione noticed that he had set a wrapped box down behind his back when he sat down.

"Oh, is it another spell book? I thought I'd thought of everything we'll need…" Fred cut her off.

"No, it's not a spell book, or any kind of book. It's actually just for you. I know you all might be out hunting for a while, and you are the kind of girl to put Harry and Ron ahead of yourself, and sacrifice your own health and well-being for them. So this is for you. Go on. Open it." He put the box in her hands, and took the scrapbook out of them, flipping through the pages, pretending not to be interested in her reaction to the present.

She slowly took off the ribbon, (neon orange) and tied it in her hair, before carefully removing the wrapping paper (neon green), knowing from years of Christmases with Fred that the slower she went, the more agitated he would get. Inside was a plain white garment box. When she opened it, she discovered a sweater, in a comforting forest green color, just like the ones she had received from Molly Weasley every year since coming to Hogwarts. Unlike those, however, this one had a big dark red letter F emblemized on the front. It was clearly one of Fred's old sweaters.

"I know you already have a bunch of these, but I thought maybe you could take one of mine, as a memory, of me, and of what you will be coming home to. Because you will come home to us, Hermione. You will all come home, safe and sound, and in one piece. Understood?"

Hermione lunged at Fred, and wrapped him in a tight hug. "Thank you, Fred Weasley. For the sweater. And for always being there for me. I haven't always noticed you, or given you the thanks you deserve for everything you have done for me, so thank you so, so very much, Fred. And yes, I will definitely use the sweater." Hermione buried her face in the crook of his neck, as Fred's arms wrapped around her, pulling her fully onto his lap to sit more comfortably.

"I will always be there for you, Hermione. And on that note, I noticed that you have a picture missing from your scrapbook." At this, she looked up sharply. "Actually, I was only just made aware of its existence, so it's alright." Fred reached into his back pocket and withdrew a picture and held it out for her to look at. "It arrived by owl yesterday. Angelina sent it to me." Again, Hermione gave him a sharp look. "Shocked me too, love." Hermione blushed at the term of endearment, but decided to ignore it. "I haven't heard from her since leaving school. But I suppose she thought I should have this. She didn't say where she got it. And I'm not sure why neither of us were made aware of it before, but…" He trailed off.

The photo fit in with the others from her fourth year. This particular one was from the Yule Ball, after Hermione's argument with Ron, when Fred had pulled her up to dance in the corner under the stairs. Someone must have seen them, and snapped the picture, but why wouldn't they have told them, or given them a copy? It was a lovely picture. Hermione was laughing at something Fred had said, and was looking up at him with a face full of amusement and affection. Fred's expression could only be described as adoring, looking down at her with a look of complete love and wonder.

Hermione looked up at Fred, who was looking down at her with the same expression as the photo in his hands, as well as, now that she thought about it, most of the photos over the past two or three years in which the two looked at each other. She smiled at him, and reached out one hand to gently lay against his cheek. He leaned, ever so slightly, into it. Her smile broadened, and they leaned into each other. Their lips touched gently, just to affirm that this was really happening after all of these years, before drawing back.

"Definitely wearing that sweater. Do you know a charm to make a specific smell stick to something?" She asked, somewhat breathless.

Fred laughed. "Somehow, from when I ran into you on the train your first year, I knew we were just meant to be."

"Is that a yes?"

A/N~ So what did you think? The original idea for this story came when I was reading another H/F story which I believe was called "Meant to Be" which included a scrapbook and pictures. If it was yours, PM me or something, and I will absolutely give credit where it is due. Please review, or flame, if you would prefer. This is my first foray into the Harry Potter fandom writing world, so any feedback would be welcome. Hope you enjoyed!


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